TheTelecomBlog.com is looking for feedback

I started this blog about 3 months ago, initially with the intention of keeping Digitcom’s customers up to date with product notices, updates, features, and releases. I wrote a few posts on the Avaya IP Office and Cisco’s UCME (Unified Communications Manager Express) products, and quickly graduated to more Telecom related news, initially centered around Nortel, and then gradually Telecom and VoIP in general. Although I still cover, and have an active interest in the Nortel saga, my general interest in that particular subject matter has waned a bit as the company winds down operations.

I have a passion for Telecom 2.0, and have written extensively about the next generation of where the market is headed. I enjoy reading and writing about the Canadian cellular market, and generally give Bell, Telus, and Rogers a hard time. I’m a champion of the underdog, and want to see the new carriers take a bite out of the incumbents market share (I am writing this post while waiting on hold for a Rogers technical support rep – our home internet connection is down and I have been on hold for almost 20 minutes).

I have never lacked content – the Telecom market is filled with amazing news. Google Android, RIM, Apple’s iPhone, Cisco, NEC, Mitel, ShoreTel, Avaya, and yes, of course, Nortel ! Many people ask how I find the time to write Telecom blog posts on a daily basis. It’s a hobby, not a job. Jason Finnerty also writes two blog posts per week. I should add that if I were keeping this blog as a profit venture I would be out of a job, and certainly wouldn’t feed the family. The only means of profit comes from those small little Google ads that you see at the right hand corner of the screen, and the last I checked I think there’s enough in the account to purchase a birthday cake for my daughter’s upcoming birthday party (she wants a white, rectangular, with purple swirls around the side b-day cake).

I have met and had conversations with some very dynamic and interesting people as a result of them finding me through this blog. I have been apprised on numerous occasions of some very confidential non disclosure “say nothing to nobody” kind of news, and have heard from some “industry insiders” with regards to stuff I definitely shouldn’t be told. That has certainly been a positive unexpected end result. I have bumped into, and have been approached by quite a few people that have introduced themselves and expressed how much they like reading these posts. That’s certainly encouraging as I sometimes wonder whether I’m writing into a vacuum !

Why am I writing this ?

Well, I know I’m not writing into a vacuum based on the positive trajectory of the Google Analytics for this blog – the stats are growing. BUT, I’m looking for some feedback. Probably not posted as comments (although you can if you wish), but, instead feedback through a personal email (which you can send to jw@digitcom.ca). I’m now in the process of doing a minor re-design of the web site itself, and am working on the scope of content moving forward.

Am I headed in the right direction ?

What would you like to read more of ?

What would you like me to cover – more news ? more technical, cellular ?? I’m looking for some feedback people – so, please drop me a personal email with your thoughts.

More: As an aside, I am still on hold waiting for a Rogers technical support rep. Their service stinks – it’s been 40 minutes and holding.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Google Android market now has 10,000 apps in their app store !

It seems like just yesterday that Google introduced Android, the open source OS for the handheld market, and so it came as quite a surprise to read that Android has over 10,000 apps available in the Android App store. In actual fact, Google Android became available to the general public for commercial use on October 28, 2008, less then 1 year ago, which makes 10,000 seem remarkable.

I did some small investigative work, and if you can judge the success of a handheld OS by the number of apps available in their store, it seems like Apple still has the lead followed by Google as follows:

Apple – 70,000 apps
Google – 10,000 apps
RIM – 2,000 apps
Palm Pre – 40 apps

It seems that the reason the Palm Pre has so few apps available is because Palm has limited who has access to it’s webOS SDK. By comparison, Apple after the same length of time in the market had about 500 apps available.

Google is certainly a formidable force in the IT space, and will continue their dominance in the handheld space as manufacturers adopt the Android OS in increasing number. In many respects it seems that Google’s dominance across the web and IT space, and the consumer reliance on a single brand, will position them in the similar anti-competitive spot that Microsoft found themselves in not that long ago.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Google Android – You’re hired !

It seems that we are all becoming slaves to our cell phones, which got me thinking about what kind of boss each particular operating system might be, be it Symbian, iPhone, Windows Mobile, or Google’s Android. Are you indentured to your phone, or do you work together to get things done?

Symbian is an old school, powerful workhorse. It does what it says it’s going to do, but not much more. The tricks that it knows, it knows well – but getting this OS to do new tricks can be a bit onerous.

iPhone is the new kid on the block, all sparkle and charm. Everyone is loving the iPhone…well, almost everyone. Apparently Microsoft doesn’t think too highly of it. The iPhone is the kind of boss that loves to hear your ideas, as long as they fit into a preplanned concept that fits the structure determined by this boss. Anything outside the norms will be disregarded and/or ignored. Most people love to work with this kind of boss – see groupthink.

Ahh, Windows Mobile. It would be too easy to go into detail as to what is wrong with the mobile OS from MS… but as a boss, Windows Mobile isn’t thaaaaat bad – it does some things well ( I especially like the reference that it is the best at integrating with other MS products – wow, who would have thought?) People say that the Windows Mobile OS is good because they think that the Windows desktop OS is good (yes – there are already enough blogs on this topic, I don’t need to touch this J ). It’s a fine example of nepotism – people like this boss because they liked the grandfather of this boss.

Now, here comes Google Android. This is a new type of boss, forward thinking and open to options. The Android is willing and able to work in many different environments and is not going to hose you at every chance it gets. In contrast to the iPhone business model, the Android boss is willing to work with you to develop new and exciting apps, all using an open source model. Experts working with experts = awesomeness. These guys say it best (albeit a while ago). As slaves consumers, we want the ability to do what we want, in the environment we want. Google is able to deliver this to us, and we will remain their humble servant for as long as they take care of us.

Internet tethering is now included for all Rogers customers on a minimum 1GB data plan e7dz5sa2v6

e7dz5sa2v6 One of my favorite technologies is internet tethering. When Apple released iPhone version 3 they also introduced the capability of tethering your iPhone via Bluetooth or USB to your Windows laptop or MAC. I’m an avid MAC user (in case you couldn’t already tell from all of my blog posts), and use this new feature religiously. Now, whenever I need wireless access I enable through the Bluetooth settings the “MAC to iPhone connection”, and – MAGIC – I can surf on my laptop through my 3G iPhone. This feature also works for Blackberry users as well.

As long as you are on a data plan that gives you at least 1 GB of throughput per month, you can use iPhone tethering for no additional charge in Canada until at least the end of 2009. It’s unclear what will happen next year, and it seems that Rogers isn’t sure yet either. I suspect Rogers is trying to recover from some of their marketing blunders from last years iPhone intro fiasco – hopefully they have learned from the error of their ways and keep this amazing feature included with the 3G data plan.

MORE: This blog does have a lot of American readers. At this point AT&T is still trying to figure out whether, and how they will provide 3G tethering services to their customers. Seems like a first. It’s usually the Americans that are leading the way with these services, and the Canadians who follow way behind. One thing which is very upsetting is that Rogers is still not allowing the Skype program to be purchased through the Canadian Apple App store. More on this later.

Rogers announces HSPA+. Wireless data at 21 Mbps

I was talking with a client yesterday about Rogers and he mentioned that Rogers recently announced a new high speed data network called HSPA+ (High Speed Access Plus) was being introduced to Canada. It’s true !

Starting in August, Rogers will increase its download speed to 21 Mbps in the Toronto area, and will quickly expand to other cities in Canada in the coming months. Rogers is the first carrier in North America to launch HSPA+. These speeds are significantly greater then the speeds offered by both Bell and Telus, and will catapult Rogers in the cell / data race in Canada. 21 Mbps is significantly greater then the speeds I am getting off my DSL connection at home (3 Mbps down), and even faster then we’re getting at Digitcom (8 Mbps). And these are both wired connections.

Bell recently started an ad campaign showing how their services are less then Rogers – and you get more bandwidth and cell time for less $’s.

Not only is Rogers the only carrier in Canada that can sell the Apple iPhone, but, now has wireless speeds that dwarf Telus and Bell’s. Funny how that doesn’t show up in the Bell ad !

Will the New iPod Touch Jump-Start VoIP?

There’s growing speculation that Apple could soon introduce a new iPod Touch with a microphone and 64GB of memory (Andy Abramson has a good blog post about it.)

If, in fact, this materializes, it would have a huge impact on VoIP usage by potentially adding millions of new users overnight.

A VoIP-friendly iPod Touch will drive more users to applications such as Skype and Truphone, and likely see new players such as Google Voice enter the market.

For many people, a voice-enabled iPod Touch will be the perfect companion for a cell phone. They woudl use the iPod Touch to listen to music, watch videos, play games, engage with social media (Facebook, Twitter), and make phone calls when they’ve got good Wi-Fi access.

An iPod Touch with VoIP will also be a nice fit for people who want more than just an iPod (music, videos) but don’t need an iPhone and the associated data plans that go along with it.

To make the iPod Touch even more irresisistable, all Apple needs to do is add a camera.

For more thoughts on a new and improved iPod Touch, check out Wired and TechSpot, which suggests it could revitalize the iPod portfolio and possibly cannibalize iPhone sales.

Apple App store – 1.5 Billion downloads !

Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded a total of 1.5 billion applications since the ‘App Store’ was launched. This will certainly give Apple a very firm lead in the mobile software market. “The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality,” said Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. “With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”

But there’s no doubt that competition is brewing. Google, Nokia, Research In Motion, Microsoft, and a number of wireless carriers have all introduced mobile software stores of their own in recent months. No doubt they are looking to duplicate Apple’s success in the field. Each of these companies is putting their own spin on the App Store concept, with Google, for example, stressing the open nature of its Android Market. Nokia, meanwhile, is putting a special emphasis on social networking applications — a good fit for social smartphones like the Nokia Surge.

For the foreseeable future, software marketplaces that target a particular niche will likely be the most successful, given Apple’s already massive lead in the general mobile application market. Surpassing the App Store in terms of sheer volume and selection will be a monumental task to say the least. Apple has been an amazing pioneer in the computer, phone, design, iTunes, and now APP market. An amazing feat, and an amazing product.